Not sure where to start to improve your website or social media? Here are 6 quick and effective ways that you can jump start your digital marketing.
As a local or small business owner, taking advantage of digital marketing is key to success. The barriers of entry into the marketplace are minimised when compared to traditional forms of marketing. Learn how you can take advantage of the digital space with these top tips.
1. Research competitors and differentiate yourself
Competitor research is important because as a local business, you’ll want to be able to offer additional value in the market. Google Search is a great place to start. You can see how your competitors are positioning themselves within their ads and search results.
Focus on key selling points.
Now, you must be thinking, how could I differentiate myself from all the other businesses who more or less provide a similar service? Entrepreneur.com says: “If you have no differentiator (and many startups don’t), invent one”.
2. Get your website basics right
Online users are becoming increasingly demanding in terms of the experience they expect from a website. They want a fast loading website as a minimum requirement. As a local business, you may not have the budget of the bigger, national or international firms, but you can at the very least get the basics right.
Now, you’re probably thinking, what are the basics? Page speed and responsiveness!
3. Improve Google My Business listing and customer reviews
Your online reputation as a small business owner could be the deciding factor when a prospective customer is searching for your product/service. Luckily, with Google My Business, you have a level of control when it comes to managing how people perceive your business.
Customer reviews aren’t anything new, but you would be surprised as to how often this is overlooked, so I would ensure this as a top priority as part of your digital marketing strategy.
4. Consider Paid advertising on Google or Facebook for your small business.
Small business owners often dismiss paid advertising as something they should do further down the line. It’s sacrificed in the name of saving time or saving money. But putting even a little bit of cash towards paid advertising can go a long way towards generating business and growing your customer base. Beyond revenue, it has a positive impact on the perception of your company and brand awareness.
5. Develop email marketing
Email marketing is used by some of the largest businesses in the world. However, email marketing isn’t just for big brands with big budgets. In fact, email marketing is one of the best marketing methods available for small businesses with strict budget considerations.
An email marketing campaign is a cost-effective solution that gives you the power to reach customers in a place most people visit every day — their inbox.
6. Focus on a primary social media channel
Social media marketing strategies are continuously changing along with constant platform updates. Often small business owners ask, which platform should I focus on?
The answer is simple… Focus on the social media platform most relevant to your business and where your customers are most active.
If the nature of your product/service offering is B2B then LinkedIn and/or Twitter are natural choices.
For B2C businesses, Facebook and/or Instagram might be better choices.
Whatever you decide, have a primary social media channel that you’ll focus on growing. As a small business owner, you probably won’t have the required resource to manage more than one channel effectively.
